The purpose of the speech pathology project is to investigate the articulatory skills of our longitudinal sample in respect to differential diagnosis of velopharyngeal closure and the predictive value of articulation tests. Additional studies will investigate the heterogeneity of various subgroups of cleft palate individuals to provide a normative sample for which future comparisons can be made. Prediction of velopharyngeal closure will be studied by examining variables such as type of cleft, age of surgery, type of surgery and cinefluorographic results.